Centre for Legal Research Annual Report 2015 - 2016 Contents Overview of the Centre for Legal Research 2014-2015. page 2 The overall purpose of the Centre for Legal Research ..............page 3 Criminal Justice Unit Annual Report ...........................page 4-5 Commercial Law Research Unit Annual Report ...................page 6-9 Environment Law Unit Annual Report ..........................page 10-13 Family, Gender and Equality Unit Annual Report .................page 14-17 International Law and Human Rights Unit Annual Report ..........page 18-20 Centre for Legal Research Publications .........................page 21-28 Centre for Legal Research Members ...........................page 29 Annual Report 1 Overview of the Centre for Legal Research 2015-2016 The Centre for Legal Research (CLR) was established by the University in October 2002. It promotes and co-ordinates the research activity within the School of Law. The CLR is fortunate to be home to a large number of scholars, research associates and postgraduate students who specialise in a wide range of subject areas and legal disciplines. We are passionate about the law, its ability to change people’s lives and the ways in which our own work can affect change regionally, nationally and across international borders. CLR scholars are at the forefront of many legal and policy debates, knowledge exchange and public engagement activities. Our scholarship informs national and international legal developments, impacting on the lives of people in the wider community, as well as government and business. The CLR and its research is organised into five subject-based research units covering: Commercial Law; Criminal Justice; Environmental Law; Family, Gender & Equality and International Law & Human Rights. As you will see from the unit events detailed in this report, 2015-16 has been a very busy year for the CLR. Its members have been engaged in a wide variety of research, seminar and conference activities. We have hosted speakers from around the world, and provided a forum for debate and public engagement. Our work has impacted on policy debates within government, the scholarly community, businesses, charities and the voluntary sector. I hope you enjoy reading about our achievements as much as I have enjoyed working with colleagues who have done so much to promote understanding, research excellence and community impact over the last 12 months. Professor Phil Rumney Director Centre for Legal Research 2 Centre for Legal Research The overall purpose of the Centre for Legal Research The Centre for Legal Research (CLR) aims to support the research policy of the Bristol Law School by working to further improve the research reputation of the School, to broaden the base of active researchers and to increase the level of research funding. It seeks to do this by providing a mechanism for securing external recognition for the research capabilities of the School, to assist the research units to develop their own identities and reputations, and by providing a supportive structure for research active staff whether or not they are members of a research unit. Key Aims of the CLR • Improve the quality of research and publications in the Law School. • Increase the level of funding secured for research, and from other research-related activities such as conferences. • Develop the public profile of the CLR. • Improve the internal profile of the CLR, and knowledge and appreciation of research activity within the School. • Increase the rate of citations of work published by centre members and develop other esteem indicators. Research Units The CLR comprises five research units headed by a research active academics: Commercial Law; Criminal Justice; Environmental Law; Family, Gender & Equality and International Law & Human Rights. Members of these research units include colleagues from other faculties, as well as undergraduate, LLM and PhD students in the School of Law. Aims of Research Units • to act as a subject focus for research and research funding bidding and to develop experienced bidding teams reflecting areas of research expertise; • to facilitate more effective management of research, and to encourage research expertise across the School; • to help fulfil the goal of widening participation in research through the provision of a more specific focus for subject-related research activities; • to organise research specialism and publications for the next REF; • to raise the external profile of the Law School’s research activities. Annual Report 3 Unit Reports Criminal Justice Unit Introduction The Criminal Justice Unit provides a forum for criminal justice research activity within UWE. We support our members in the development and implementation of their research and other scholarly activity. We actively support research funding applications and encourage collaboration both within the unit and in the wider academy. The CJU provides a platform for members to present The Unit aims to provide a platform for external speakers their research, and each meeting allows for at least one to come to UWE in order to present on an aspect of research paper to be presented by a member of staff; criminal justice and encourage debate and knowledge this allows for discussion and development of ideas transfer and exchange. The details of two such events are to ensue so that presenters get the most out of their provided below. It is anticipated that more events, and paper and feedback and discussion. There is clear cross- more diverse events will be run through/with the Unit, as disciplinary appeal as regards the research presented. members are periodically asked whether they would like The Unit has members from Law, BILP, Education, run an event or invite a guest speaker to the University. Criminology, Public Health, and HAS, and it is hoped that the Unit will continue to grow and involve active membership from members from a wide range of disciplines. 4 Centre for Legal Research Unit Events Guest Speaker: Dr Jay Levy Dr Jay Levy conducted research in Sweden over several years, focusing on the outcomes of the criminalisation of the purchase of sex. He came to present his findings at UWE in November 2015, at a seminar that was well attended by students and staff from the Law school and beyond. The topic was relevant to student coursework on the Gender and the Law module, and this presentation was particularly timely as Parliament called for evidence on this matter in early 2016 – the students and lecturers on the Gender module submitted evidence on this matter. Guest Speaker: Dr Anna Carline Dr Carline (University of Leicester) came to UWE in March 2016 to give a paper focusing on the potential criminalisation of the purchase of sexual services in England and Wales. This paper allowed for different perspectives and a different approach to be taken to the topic, as the previous speaker had undertaken empirical research in Sweden, whereas Dr Carline had examined the proposed model for England and Wales through the lens of critical legal theory. Funding and Fellowships Prof. Phil Rumney and Dr Rachel Fenton are working on a project led by Prof. Marianne Hester of Bristol University which was awarded an ESRC grant worth £780,000. The project is entitled: ‘Inequality, Justice and Gender Based Violence’. Unit member awards, external recognition etc Dr Mary Young has engaged in various workshops: • 2016 Workshop: FSA at Henley Business School. • 2016 Interview: Wall Street Journal, Bristol Cable. • 2015 Interview: BBC Radio Wiltshire , Latin Lawyer. Jessica Elliott was contacted for discussion by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s office, a centre-right thinktank (Bright Blue), and BBC Radio 4 regarding a Report that was drafted and released following a research project undertaken with Unseen, who are an anti-trafficking organisation based in Bristol. Annual Report 5 Commercial Law Research Unit Introduction The aim of the Commercial Law Research Unit (CLRU) is to support staff as well as our postgraduate students in their research so that they can produce high quality research outputs, optimize research dissemination, knowledge exchange, and education for an international audience of academics, practitioners, and students. CLRU organises events to foster a debate on research interest and activities of the CLRU focus on a contemporary issues; showcases research outputs by wide range of commercial law related activities including staff; brings in expert speakers to enhance learning corporate social responsibility, energy law, EU Law, and knowledge exchange; and holds multi-disciplinary employment law, international trade law, banking and symposiums and conferences. finance law, financial regulation, financial crime, cyber law, An important aspect of the CLRU is to bridge the gap digital assets law, corporate governance and consumer law. between academic law and its practical application. The In pursuit of these aims the CLRU has the following objectives: • To produce high quality research to be disseminated • To support colleagues, providing them with to an international audience by means of conference constructive research environment, and advice presentation, academic journal output and other on external funding applications, forms of output and publication. • To provide an active, rigorous and coherent PhD • To produce knowledge exchange outputs such as programme, linking this with themes of the CLRU, consultancy and CPD courses with relevance both • To provide logistic and financial support to the CLRU